Articles

Philatelic Exporter: new lay out

It is an unique magazine, the The Philatelic Exporter. It is the biggest magazine, made by and for the stamp dealers.

For years, this publication had a no-nonsense lay-out. It was as if you could smell the lead from the composing room. But that’s a period we’ve now left behind. The computer came, which initially rather disturbed the production process instead of streamlining it and once that operation was over, the magazine seemed to have gotten a definitive lay-out. That was a mistake, the final editor of the magazine, Graham Phillips, which, for years had done nearly all of the work, thought it was time to take it somewhat easier. As a consequence, the more technical part of the editing process and the canvassing of ads came into ‘commercial’ hands.
And now, only few months later, the consequences are already visible : the magazine has undergone a drastic face-lift. It looks more modern, there is more ‘white’ on the pages and the use of headings is more consequent. The ‘bread…’, however, has become a little smaller. Pessimists would say that of the old ‘Exporter’ only the gleaming paper was remained. But that would not be just as the contents of the magazine are, as before, still very interesting.